Connections
Connection is something I’ve talked about before in both the newsletter and these journal posts, and it’s a theme that will always be present when it comes to bikes, at least for me, and I’m sure for many of you reading this too. For a long time, I didn’t have many people in my life whom I hadn’t met through riding bikes. Part of that was simply being young and distancing myself from people who weren’t part of that world. Bikes had always been an escape, and although I didn’t realise it until years later, I think all I was really trying to do was escape what most people would call normal life.
Connecting with people when you're younger is easy when you share something that is, firstly, niche and, secondly, rooted in genuine passion. BMX in the '90s was tiny, so meeting someone else who was into it was rare. When it did happen, there was an undeniable bond that formed almost instantly.
I remember riding down my street when I was about 13 and seeing another kid pedalling the other way on a bike with Hoffman Condor stickers on it (if you know, you know). I made a beeline for him and, without any hesitation, asked, "Is that a real Condor?" It turned out it wasn't, but from that moment on we spent years riding together, and over 30 years later I still know him today.
As time went on, that same theme continued, just on a much bigger scale. At first, it was meeting people from around the UK, whether they were travelling to ride our local spots or we were visiting theirs. There was always an instant connection, and more often than not those encounters turned into friendships that lasted for years.
I’ve slept on plenty of random people's living room floors, and vice versa, I’ve had more than a few very random, and often pretty smelly, people sleeping on mine. Regardless of who they were or where they came from, they were always welcomed without a second thought.
By the time I reached my twenties, that had grown into an international network of close friends. It quickly became less about meeting new people and more about connecting with like-minded people and immersing myself in different cultures. I remember my first big trip abroad to Spain with a group of Germans and a couple of English mates. It was the first time I’d travelled with mostly non-English speakers, and I still remember sitting around in the evenings while everyone chatted away in German.
Instead of feeling awkward or out of place, I just felt this strange sense of peace. Even as I write this, I can’t fully explain what I mean, but it still makes me smile thinking back on it. I guess it was the feeling of having such a genuine connection with people I’d only just met even though we came from different cultures.
The random and wonderful places I’ve ended up because of bikes, or through some connection made by bikes, still blows my mind. From a squat in Norway that was about to be raided, to a beachfront house in South Africa owned by the family that started Billabong, to a cupboard in a San Francisco studio apartment. From the fanciest places to the bottom of the barrel, the one thing they all had in common was open arms from the host and gratitude from me, and whoever else happened to be staying there.
As I get older and travel less frequently, those new connections are still there; they just look a little different. Sure, I’d still be happy sleeping on the couch of someone I already know, but am I going to invite a stranger to sleep on my living room floor when I have my family at home? Probably not.
These days, it’s more likely to be someone you meet on a group ride or through social media. And although it doesn’t have quite the same feel as it used to, there’s still that shared sense of understanding. Almost like a small, unspoken nod that says, “Yeah, you get it.”
A perfect example of one of those newer connections is Marcus from Probably Riding. Funnily enough, I think the first thing we ever chatted about was cookware. After that, it was just two English blokes talking about bikes, one living in Korea and the other on the south coast of the UK.
The next thing I knew, he was back home visiting a couple of years ago, and we were ripping around the New Forest in the pissing rain. Fast forward two years, and this past week we found ourselves doing it all over again, this time over in Purbeck. Riding bikes and talking about everything from fatherhood to the price of eating out in Korea compared with the UK, and everything in between.
Two people living on opposite sides of the world, brought together by a shared passion for bikes. It's funny where those connections can take you.